FINAL GIRL explores the slasher flicks of the '70s and '80s...and all the other horror movies I feel like talking about, too. This is life on the EDGE, so beware yon spoilers!

Dec 17, 2010

awesome movie poster friday - the JEAN ROLLIN edition!

Earlier this week, writer/director Jean Rollin passed away at the age of 72. To be honest, I know very little of the body of work he left behind beyond Grapes of Death and gawking at images on Jeremy Richey's superior Rollin tribute blog Fascination. I've got a couple of his movies sitting here waiting to be watched (Two Orphan Vampires and Shiver of the Vampires, to be exact), and because I'm so uninformed, I don't quite get what he was all about yet. On the very surface of things, it seems that he might be a better, more artistic Jess Franco. That's probably selling Rollin way short, but as I said, I'm just now getting into his stuff. SO SUE ME.

Calling Rollin a better, more artistic Jess Franco is pretty close to true. The major difference is that Franco's output was so huge, they couldn't all be winners. When Franco's on, such as with the hypnotic "Vampyros Lesbos" or "Venus in Furs," he's great and bordering on surrealistic, but I know lots of film geeks that hate Franco & think he's never made a quality flick in his life, so there's that. Rollin, on the other hand, has more hits than misses in my book, but at a far lesser ratio, as he hasn't done as many films as Franco. (Who has?) His earlier work is very trippy and very much a product of their time. However, if you like "Vampyros Lesbos" to a certain extent, but wish it were just a little better, any given Rollin vamp flick pretty much is. My faves are "Requiem..." and "2 Orphans"- and "Fiancee of Dracula" is all the world like a David Lynch vampire movie, even more so than "VL," if you can believe that. However, I think I actually like his non-vamp stuff just as much if not more, especially the Cronenberg-ian "Night of the Hunted" and "Living Dead Girl," which is like an artier "Return of the Living Dead 3." Sorry for the long post, but I was a big fan. I even have the deluxe editions of his famous flicks from encore. I haven't seen a few of his movies (Nude Vampire, Escapees, Killing Car, Iron Rose) so I'm looking forward to having a memorial festival. R.I.P. Rollin- there will never be another quite like him. But the world was a better place with him in it, and you can't say that about too many people who did porn! (Directing, not starring, lol.) He will be missed.

Man, sort of a weird challenge. I don't know the actual titles these were released under in English, but I'll give you the literal French translations.

La vampire nue—The Nude VampiressLe viol du vampire—Rape of the VampireUne vierge chez les morts vivants—A Virgin Among the Living DeadLe lac des morts vivants—The Lake of the Living DeadLa morte vivant—The Living Dead Girl[literal, but clunky in English, I know]Lèvres de Sang—Lips of BloodLe frisson des vampires—The Shudder of the Vampires (I think I'd look like the green face at the top if I saw a giant bad doing that to a naked lady…yikes)

Interesting that for once, the English titles for movies are just the foreign titles translated...if you know what I mean. Like La morte vivant is known as The Living Dead Girl and not, say, Don't Open the Window! or something, as these things usually go.

I've only seen a couple of Rollin's films myself, but I would say that "a better, more artistic Jess Franco" hits the nail right on the head. Except that, Franco's redeeming quality is that he can be quite artistic at times, so it's probably fairer to describe Rollin as "more consistently artistic". I'm not sure that Rollin is very far ahead of Franco when it comes to quality control, but he doesn't have near the volume of utter crap as Franco, and their styles are similar to the point that they've collaborated.

Anyway, he was a unique filmmaker, with a very recognizable style and point of view. Here's to him!